Rockford Shoppers, Have You Noticed This Amazon Change?

Thanks to stiff competition from other retailers like Walmart, Amazon just quietly lowered their minimum free shipping requirements, and a lot of shoppers didn't notice it. Until now.

Here's the truth about me, I am addicted to Amazon for everything. Shopping, reading, reviews, watching T.V. shows; I'm addicted to all of it.  My serious addiction, (and the fact that going to a store with 2 kids 3 and under is a special kind of Hell), is why I have to have Amazon Prime.

If you don't have Prime, and you've bought anything on Amazon in the last few days you may have noticed a change to the shipping on your order, primarily, now if your order is $35 or above you get free shipping, instead of the recent $49 minimum. The change was recently added to their shipping/Help & Customer Service page without much pomp and circumstance as well:

You receive free shipping if your order includes at least $35 of eligible items or $25 of books (in which case all other eligible items in the order also ship free). Any item with "FREE Shipping" messaging on the product detail page, that is fulfilled and shipped by Amazon, is eligible and contributes to your free shipping order minimum.

Amazon's free shipping requirement has gone up and down over the years as a way to entice Amazon Prime subscribers, but according to Fortune, the recent change may be thanks to other major retailers lowering their minimum shipping requirements:

Amazon's decision to quietly roll back its free shipping minimum to $35 without much fanfare has incited some followers to speculate if the tech company is feeling the pressure from other major retailers (notably Walmart) with lower free shipping requirements.